Three Kingdoms: A wise grandson, Cao Wei can last for three generations!

Winter came early in the eighteenth year of Jian'an; the first snow fell just after October.

Cao Rui, wrapped in a sable coat, huddled in the carriage as he hurried home from Xun Yu's residence.

Xun Yu lectured on the Spring and Autumn Annals all afternoon, until his eyelids were drooping, but he dared not sleep out of respect for the lord, and forced himself to stay awake for two hours.

"Young master, we've arrived." Xu Hu lifted the carriage curtain, and a gust of cold wind rushed in, causing Cao Rui to shiver.

He jumped out of the car and was about to go inside when he suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from across the street.

"Who?"

No one answered.

Xu Hu became alert, put his hand on the hilt of his knife, and went over to take a look—there was a person squatting in the corner, huddled in a ball, wrapped in a few pieces of tattered burlap, shivering from the cold.

"It's a child." Xu Hu picked the person up and carried him under the lantern.

Cao Rui went over to take a look and saw a boy of seven or eight years old. He was so thin that he was skin and bones, and his face was dirty, but his eyes were surprisingly bright.

He huddled in Xu Hu's arms like a frightened cat, trembling all over, but gritting his teeth and remaining silent.

"What's your name?" Cao Rui asked.

The boy didn't speak, he just stared at him.

"I'm asking you a question." Xu Hu shook him.

"Let go, Uncle Xu." Cao Rui walked over, squatted down, and looked the boy in the eye. The boy still didn't speak, but his lips were already frozen purple.

Cao Rui took off his sable fur coat and draped it over the boy's shoulders. The boy paused, looked up, and for the first time, there was something different in his eyes—not wariness, but bewilderment.

"Let's go in and get something to eat." Cao Rui turned and left.

The boy stood still. Xu Hu shoved him: "Come on, what are you standing there for?"

The boy stumbled after him, his mink coat dragging on the ground, covered in snow.

Cao Rui asked Chunlan to heat up a bowl of porridge and bring two flatbreads. The boy stood there, staring intently at the bowl of porridge, but dared not move.

"Eat up," Cao Rui said, pushing the bowl towards him.

The boy looked up at him, then suddenly knelt down with a thud and kowtowed.

Cao Rui was startled: "What are you doing?"

The boy didn't speak, picked up the bowl, and gulped down the porridge. He drank too fast, choking and coughing, but he didn't stop. He finished two pieces of flatbread in a few bites, then looked up at Cao Rui.

"Want more?"

The boy nodded.

"Chunlan, get two more pieces."

The boy ate two more pieces of bread and drank a bowl of porridge before stopping. He let out a burp and then suddenly knelt down again.

"Alright, alright, stop kowtowing." Cao Rui pulled him up. "What's your name? How old are you?"

The boy opened his mouth, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against wood: "No...no name."

"No name? How will people address you?"

"Nobody called me."

Cao Rui fell silent. He looked at the child—so thin he was just skin and bones, his body covered in scars, some already scabbed over, others still bleeding.

Where are your parents?

"He's dead."

"How did he die?"

"They starved to death."

The boy spoke without much expression on his face, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

Cao Rui carefully examined the child in front of him, as if recalling something. He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up and turned his back.

"From today onwards, your name is Bixie."

The boy paused for a moment, then asked, "A talisman against evil spirits?"

"Yes. It means to ward off evil spirits and avoid misfortune. From now on, you will follow me."

The boy paused for a moment, then suddenly knelt down again.

"Don't kowtow." Cao Rui grabbed him. "We don't do that here."

The boy looked up, and for the first time, tears welled up in his incredibly bright eyes.

When Cao Pi returned and saw a dirty child in the hall, he paused for a moment, then looked at Zhen Mi and asked, "Whose child is this?"

"Rui'er picked it up," Zhen Mi explained.

Cao Pi glanced at the boy named Bixie, then at Cao Rui, and his lips twitched: "Are you addicted to picking up people? Last year you picked up Ma Chao, and this year you've picked up a child?"

"Father, General Ma wasn't found."

"What is that?"

"They were invited."

Cao Pi was taken aback, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, pick it up if you want. Our family isn't short of food anyway."

He turned and walked away, but stopped after a few steps. He glanced back at the boy and said to Zhen Mi, "Have someone wash him and change his clothes. If he goes out like this, people will think we're abusing our child."

Zhen Mi smiled and agreed.

That evening, Bixie took a bath, changed his clothes, and was led to Cao Rui by Chunlan.

Cao Rui stared at the clean-cut boy before him, momentarily stunned. After washing away the mud from his face, Bixie was quite handsome, but too thin; his clothes hung loosely on him.

"Bixie, how old are you?"

"I don't know." Pi Xie lowered his head, his voice still hoarse. "Probably... seven or eight years old."

"About my age." Cao Rui patted the stool next to him. "Sit down."

Bixie sat down, his back ramrod straight, as if he had been measured with a ruler.

"Don't be so nervous," Cao Rui smiled. "What did you do before?"

"beggar."

"How long did it take?"

"Two and a half years."

"Bixie," Cao Rui stood up, "you won't need to beg for food anymore."

Bixie raised his head, and there was something indescribable in his incredibly bright eyes.

"Young master, I... I can do anything. Sweeping, chopping wood, starting a fire, feeding the horses—I'll do whatever you ask me to do."

Cao Rui shook his head: "You don't need to do anything. You just need to live well."

Bixie settled down at the Cao residence. Cao Rui had him learn martial arts from Xu Hu and also had Chunlan teach him to read.

Pi Xie learns everything quickly, but he doesn't like to talk. He's always taciturn, following Cao Rui like a shadow.

Xu Hu clicked his tongue in amazement, "Young Master, look at the way he looks at me, like a wolf cub. When he grows up, he'll definitely be a ruthless character."

"Uncle Xu, teach him well."

"Rest assured, young master."

Three days after Cao Rui retrieved the talisman, the river outside Xuchang froze over. It was so thick that a horse could ride on it, and the bolder children were already slipping on the ice, only to be dragged back by the ears by their parents and given a good beating while cursing.

Bixie squatted in the kitchen of the Cao family's backyard, holding a bowl of hot porridge and sipping it slowly.

He drank very slowly—this was something Cao Rui had taught him. On his first day, he gulped down two bowls of porridge in three mouthfuls, so full he was practically rolling his eyes back. Cao Rui, watching from the side, was stunned, and after a long pause, finally managed to stammer, "Are you a reincarnated starving ghost?"

Bixie didn't know what it meant for a hungry ghost to be reincarnated, but he knew he couldn't afford to lose face any longer.

So he studied very diligently. He learned to drink porridge slowly, walk softly, and speak with his head down—these were all taught to him by Sister Chunlan. There was also one rule that the young master taught him personally: never kneel.

"With me, you don't need to kneel. If you kneel once, I'll deduct one meal from your diet."

Bixie remembered. So he stood ramrod straight, like a wooden stake driven into the ground.

"To ward off evil spirits." Cao Rui poked half his head in from the kitchen doorway. "Come with me."

Bixie put down the bowl and followed, without asking a single question.

This is the benefit of warding off evil spirits—you go wherever the young master tells you to go, and you do whatever the young master tells you to do, without ever asking why.